The United States and Japan will step up their defence cooperation to deal with the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea as tensions in East Asia remain high, officials from the two allies said on Thursday.

Govt to introduce privacy alert laws

Businesses and government agencies will be forced to disclose privacy breaches under draft laws to be introduced to parliament on Wednesday.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said there had been some "spectacular recent examples" of data breaches where names and personal information had been disclosed publicly and singled out Sony Playstation, Australia Post, Vodafone and Telstra.

"It certainly can pass through the parliament (before September)," he said.

Mr Dreyfus said for most companies that already had "good data hygiene", the changes won't present too much of a challenge.

He defended the timing of the announcement, saying the Australian Law Reform Commission recommended the measures in 2008 and a discussion paper was put out last year.

It's likely to be March next year when the changes come into effect.

Under the plan, affected customers and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner will have to be notified of data breaches.